WHAT? Something new under the sun. The California-based Mann Packing Co., which has trademarked the name “broccolini,” describes it as “an exciting new vegetable!” A cross between broccoli and gai lan (Chinese kale), broccolini also goes by the name asparation, though we agree with Elizabeth Schneider, who wrote in Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini that “If you were seeking a pharmaceutical to deliver hope to the respiratory system, you might check out something with a name like Asparation. It seems unlikely that you’d go shopping for a vegetable.” Whatever you call it, broccolini is sweeter and less fibrous than broccoli, and it has a peppery nuance. Schneider found it “as pretty as asparagus,” and “as versatile as broccoli.”
WHERE? Rob Dacko, James LoCascio, and Jason Smith's Beard House dinner